The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Services, Marcos Pereira, participated on Tuesday, presenting the "Comparative study on e-commerce in small and medium enterprises in Brazil and the European Union." In his speech during the opening ceremony, the minister stressed that the study will help to develop public policies for e-commerce.

"The tertiary sector, specifically retail, within which is e-commerce, has unique characteristics and needs, therefore, specific to its development policies. Before the Brazilian federative model, it is known that e-commerce is facing challenges related, for example, legislative issues and different tax rules among states. In parallel, the European Union, the industry also finds similar challenges between one country and another, "said Pereira.

The study launched by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Services is part of the project "Support Sector Dialogues EU-Brazil", which aims to contribute to the development and deepening of the strategic partnership and bilateral relations between Brazil and the European Union by through support for the exchange of technical expertise.

The project is coordinated jointly by the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MOP) - through the National Project Director - and the European Union Delegation in Brazil (Delbra). Pedro Santos, the European Union delegation, attended the launch event and stated that the study will be important to encourage the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) facing the challenges presented by the rapid development of technologies and change of norms and standards.

"We believe that initiatives such as this event recognize the importance of e-commerce for the growth and development of the country. This is a sector growing at significant rates annually and is presented today with great relevance to the retail growth in the current macroeconomic environment, "said the minister.

Growth

In Brazil, the e-commerce industry earned in 2015, R $ 41.3 billion, an increase of 15% compared to 2014. European companies moved € 424 billion in 2014 (latest data available), according to Ecommerce Europe, association of more than 25,000 e-commerce companies. The sector's performance in 2014, the European Union was 14% higher than that recorded in 2013.

The study found that there is potential to maintain the sector's growth in Brazil, since online sales accounted for in 2015, only 4.1% of retail sales. In the assessment of the Secretary of Commerce and the Ministry Services, Marcelo Maia, "in Europe, it is estimated that online sales already represent 13% of the sector." When the comparison is made with the GDP drops to 0.9%. Marcelo Maia explains that in countries like the UK and China, the world's leading e-commerce, this figure rises to over 5%.

The study also found that several aspects of the Brazilian e-commerce need to be improved, for example, the fixed broadband telecommunications infrastructure; the training of SME managers to the digital world; access to credit;simplification of the tax and legal systems; the internationalization of SMEs; and the creation of an integrated strategy to promote digital entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the document also found that the large European centers for highly sophisticated electronic payment services; Modern digital platforms and prepared for demands in scale and the existence of sophisticated logistics services. Elements that contribute greatly to the development of the sector.

During the research conducted for the paper they were observed some similarities between the reality of the Brazilian e-commerce and the European. The sector of the two regions has grown significantly in recent years and contributes to the development and growth of small and medium enterprises. In both markets, SMEs are the most active of the e-commerce industry, reaching 80% in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (Chamber-e.net). Marcelo Maia, however, points out that in Brazil, the participation of SMEs is still small, accounting for only 15% of retail sales, while large companies are 85% of the national e-commerce. Another similarity between Brazil and Europe is the concentration of operations in the domestic market. Few SMEs who venture to carry out online sales to other countries, even in Europe, where only 7% of SMEs do cross-border e-commerce.

recommendations

The study also makes recommendations for the sector. Internally, they are recommended advances in legislation, regulation and supervision as: less bureaucracy and simplification of tax procedures in general for SMEs; integration of billing processes and transactions; and adoption of tax rules simplified in extra-regional or inter-state transactions. The document reiterates the need, for example, the establishment of regulations concerning privacy and processing of personal data.

Issues related to telecommunications and logistics infrastructure were also discussed, with the recommendation that public policies are formulated to enable the accessibility of companies to internet service and also the creation of development of economic and political incentives for offering service packages for SMEs.

Other fronts identified in the study are the creation of credit lines based on European models such as the Innovation Valley, Valley Entrepreneurship and Internationalisation Valley and restructuring models and funding programs, with the National Financial System. In addition to the need to promote the access of SMEs to Public Procurement Electronics and work for the promotion of digital entrepreneurship.